My favorite ramen places in Tokyo

Quite frankly, I can't say what the best ramen in Tokyo is, since I haven't tried all of them. I never will be able to, either, since there always new places opening up.

If you read Japanese, the Ramen DB is a great resource, as a repository of most of the Tokyo ramen fanatics' reviews.

So, I'll just introduce my personal favorites:

1) Right now, this is the ramen I'm personally craving the most: the chicken ramen in Azabu Juban 麻布十番156 Ichikoro. A thick broth akin to tonkotsu but different. They do the egg with the soft yolk center. Their gyoza is pretty good too.

Interestingly, I've never tried their sister chain 野朗ラーメン Yaro Ramen although the tonkotsu smells pretty good. 156 Ichikoro has a slightly fancier ambience and is easier for me to enter.

2) Not ramen, but I'm going to stick it on this list because when I'm craving noodles this fits the bill just as well as tonkotsu ramen.  笹塚 Sasazuka station is a bit out of the way but it is home to 豪快 Gokai (map), the best 坦々麺 tantan noodles I've ever had. If you haven't had Japanese tantanmen, it's a creamy Japanese variation on the Chinese original.  Cheap all the time, and pretty fast.  Counter space only (12 seats).  Just order the tantanmen 坦々麺 with the 細麺 thin noodles. They also do handmade thick noodles, but although I normally love handmade noodels, I don't like these as much as the thin noodles.

I expect that they're cash only, and I don't think they speak English, but you can show them this photo.

3) For tonkotsu ramen, I usually go to 博多一風堂 Ippudo. Easy to find around Tokyo. They have the thin, straight Hakata style noodles, and 2 regular types of tonkotsu - white is traditional, red is the revolutionary/modern version.

4) I like the salt ramen at 山頭火 Santouka (the fatty pork ぶたバラ is ridiculous, and can be a bit too fatty)

5) A chain restaurant found everywhere in Japan, 天下一品 has a こってりラーメン that is ridiculously thick. Apparently it's a chicken and vegetable based broth, but this stuff will probably leave you full for a day - it's that thick. I would recommend not drinking all the broth if you want to be able to move afterwards.

I hear the tonkotsu ramen at 一蘭 Ichiran is good, with the thin, straight 博多 Hakata style noodles. Next trip!

tsuke-men showdown

Ramen events rule.
In Hibiya they're holding the last of 3 ramen showdowns; about 8 ramen shops hold temporary stands in this park near Ginza. It's all tsuke-men - ramen that you dip into the thicker than normal soup. Usually tsuke-men is more popular in the summer, since it's cooler to eat than a regular bowl of ramen. Yesterday I tried this Fukuoka restaurant 博多　新風's ramen - soo good! The soup was deliciously thick and savory, and meshed perfectly with the noodles. By itself the soup was overpowering, but with noodles; perfection!

I took a picture with my cell phone but it was dark and blurry; darn this newer Sharp phone that lacks a flash!

stay in Fukuoka and study Japanese!

My friend runs a Japanese Language School in Fukuoka that offers various accommodations in addition to a wide variety of lesson plans; the manga and anime courses look very fun.

I've never been to Fukuoka before, but as part of Kyushu, it is famous for tonkotsu ramen (my favorite type of ramen). It is also apparently extremely convenient, being only 20 minutes by train from the airport! Tokyo, in contrast, is an hour and half to 2 hours from Narita International Airport, and an hour from Haneda airport, the domestic airport.

Fukuoka is apparently home to quite a lot of game and anime developers, so the manga and anime courses are probably great fun. It seems rather more authentic than going to Harajuku to stare at the ever dwindling numbers of goth-loli kids there.

This seems like a great way to combine some intensive Japanese study with a trip to Fukuoka and Kyushu. I may have to try it out this fall before the JLPT.

ramen...

been on a ramen kick lately.

I went to Santouka 山頭火 (which is now available in multiple places in CA!) where I always get the salt ramen. It was good as usual, but not that satisfying. In contrast, I had Nissen cup ramen in a Shiodome 汐留　flavor (Shiodome is an area of Tokyo, where there's apparently a popular ramen shop) that was quite tasty - chicken and pork broth.

I suppose I'm in a tonkotsu mood. Need to go back to that Azabu-juban shop...

food news

Not really "news-worthy" but new info about food topics:

* Vivivavi.jp: this little shop in Ginza only sells pork feet; they offer it grilled with salt, grilled with garlic, stewed, and marinated. They have also started offering lunch bento - croquettes with japanese sweet potato and bits of pork cartillage, and the regular grilled porcine menu, along with a healthy selection of vegetables, marinated salad, and spring rolls. Quite tasty and good for the consumer who is new to this part of the pig. Next time I will get the grilled version, but I am quite a fan of the croquettes. All for 500 yen! Including rice.

I'll take pictures next time. I've been using my film SLR (single-lens reflex) a lot lately; even with my simple 50 mm lens, it takes pretty pictures. Film and development costs add up, but it's just much nicer than my little digital camera. It's funny because everyone assumes it's a digital camera, so I have to explain that no, it's archaic that way.

* tried a ramen place called Toraji 虎ジ in Hamadayama, a couple stations north of Meidaimae on the Keio Inokashira line. The noodles were quite tasty, and the salt-based soup was good, and the pork slices were tasty but overly salted. The guy managing the shop was a bit brusque for my taste though; I think guys would enjoy the experience more. No complaints about the ramen, although for 800yen it was a smidgen pricy.

NY Ramen!

Ippudo, a Hakata style pork-bone broth ramen shop, has opened up a branch in NY! If you're in the area, I recommend a visit. The branch I've visited in Yokohama has a great thick broth and the thin, straight noodles characteristic of Hakata, Kyushu ramen. The soup can be a bit heavy though. I recommend you save the garlic toppings for later trips. Adding a bowl of rice to the leftover broth is only for advanced eaters. Seriously. You don't want to push your body too quickly.

Heh.

It puzzles me that the NY site is not as aesthetically pleasing as the regular Japanese site. The text may contain rather a bit of hyperbole - I've never heard of this ramen king, but who knows?

Oh yes, I recommend the Shiromaru soup - the white broth. I've never tried the red one though...

a different kind of ramen

After a long hiatus, back to one of the three themes for this blog: ramen!

めん徳 二代目 つじ田(mentoku nidaime tsujita) is a shop located in 小川町(Ogawamachi) near 新御茶ノ水(Shin Ochanomizu) in Tokyo.

This may be the best ramen I've ever tasted. It's completely different from anything I've had before. The specialty is the つけ面(tsukemen) for 780 yen, where the noodles are served separately from the soup and you dip the noodles in the soup before slurping them up.

You squeeze the little slice of lime over the cold noodles and then gather a bunch up to dip into the surprising soup. The lime makes it a little tangy; a shocking flavor for ramen, but it's absolutely delicious. The tanginess is refreshing amidst the typical salty, oily yumminess. I can't even recall the flavor properly; it's not like tonkotsu or soy sauce or salt ramen. From reading other reviews it appears to be a mix of three types of soup (the reviewer called it triple soup-like). My friend liked the noodles in particular, but I found the soup and the meltingly tender pork the real winners. The pork comes in rectangular slices and is very tasty. I neglected to take pictures of the pork this time, but I will be back!